Abstract

Wildlife management can generate social conflict when stakeholder perceptions of the target species are not considered. Introduced Ring-necked Parakeets (RNP) are established in the UK and have been added to the ‘general licence’ of birds that can be killed to prevent serious economic damage. We aimed to better understand perceptions of RNPs on a nationwide scale to inform mitigation actions for potential future conflict over RNP management. We surveyed 3,947 UK residents to understand awareness of, knowledge of and attitudes towards the RNP across the UK.
We found that most respondents (90.2%) were aware of the RNP. Almost half of respondents (45.9%) held negative opinions, particularly against the RNP in rural areas (64.7%), suggesting landscape contexts influence attitudes. Respondent preference for the RNP was low in local neighbourhoods (7.80%) although the species was considered aesthetically pleasing by most (83.0%). Many respondents knew the species’ name (54.9%), but underestimated current population numbers in the UK (82.6%) and few knew its full native range (10.0%). We identified respondents’ ecological interest, age, education, preference for, awareness of and knowledge of the RNP as significant factors associated with perceptions.
Our findings suggest that the RNP presents a complex socio-environmental challenge, with respondent awareness, knowledge and attitudes each forming an important component of perceptions towards this species. We recommend that wildlife managers utilise our findings and cohesive approach to enhance future RNP perception research in the UK and abroad and towards the success of any proposed management initiatives under the UK general licence.

Addeddate

2025-04-01 23:10:00

Bhl_virtual_titleid

210923

Bhl_virtual_volume

v.93 (2024)

Call number

10_3897_neobiota_93_110122

Call-number

10_3897_neobiota_93_110122

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0

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article

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notcountrysidep93pirz

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ark:/13960/s2m6mnht0ps

Identifier-bib

10_3897_neobiota_93_110122

Identifier-doi

10.3897/neobiota.93.110122

Ocr

tesseract 5.3.0-6-g76ae

Ocr_detected_lang

en

Ocr_detected_lang_conf

1.0000

Ocr_detected_script

Latin

Ocr_detected_script_conf

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Ocr_module_version

0.0.21

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-l eng

Page_number_confidence

33

Page_number_module_version

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1-24

Pages

24

Pdf_degraded

invalid-jp2-headers

Pdf_module_version

0.0.25

Possible copyright status

In copyright. Digitized with the permission of the rights holder.

Ppi

300

Source

NeoBiota 93

Year

2024

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